Hartwick names new head of
Food and Beverage Center
STAFF REPORT • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com
ONEONTA — Harmonie Marie Bettenhausen has been named the new director of the Hartwick College Center for Craft Food & Beverage, Hartwick College President Margaret L. Drugovich announced Thursday, May 27, in a media release.
Bettenhausen will assume the role in late June, succeeding Aaron MacLeod, who served as the center’s inaugural director for seven years.
Bettenhausen comes to Hartwick from Colorado State University, where she is completing innovative doctoral research in horticulture, specifically flavor chemistry, sensory science, agricultural biology and metabolomics of crops for food and health. Bettenhausen also served Colorado State as a graduate assistant and brewing lab manager in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition.
“The Hartwick Center for Craft Food & Beverage has proven to be the catalyst for innovation and growth in the beverage industry that we had hoped it would be,” Drugovich said in the media release. “Harmonie has the depth and breadth of expertise necessary to open the next chapter in the CCFB’s work with the brewing and distilling industry, all along the supply chain. I look forward to her leadership as she builds on the excellent work of founding Director Aaron Macleod.”
Launched in 2014, Hartwick College’s CCFB is a resource for testing, business development, and education for small and mid-sized breweries, wineries, distilleries, farms, and other craft food and beverage producers. The first such facility in New York state, Hartwick’s CCFB is funded in part by a grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission, and an incentive from Empire State Development Corporation through New York State’s Consolidated Funding Application process.
Prior to her positions with Colorado State University, Bettenhausen worked abroad in the U.S. Peace Corps and domestically in the food and beverage industries. She followed her undergraduate studies with work for Odell Brewing Company of Fort Collins, CO in various positions, including product development and creating a new internal sensory program. At MouCo Cheese Company in Fort Collins, she helped develop in-house microbiological testing methods that would eliminate high-priced outside testing and avoid the risk of infection/contamination.
“I am delighted to be joining Hartwick College and the Center for Craft Food & Beverage,” Bettenhausen said in the media release. “I look forward to both continuing great relationships and also building new partnerships and collaborations within the malting, brewing, and distilling industries, as well as in some new areas of opportunity. I am honored to be a part of an exceptionally innovative and progressive institution.”
Bettenhausen has earned numerous scholarships and grants related to her research. She has been published in peer-reviewed industry journals, and has presented at both domestic and international scientific meetings and professional conferences.
A native of Chicago
, Bettenhausen holds a bachelor’s in animal sciences/equine sciences and an interdisciplinary master’s in food science and food safety from Colorado State University, where she is completing her doctoral research.
The announcement comes days after the College broke ground on an initiative that will complement CCFB, the new Hartwick College Grain Innovation Center. In partnership with the City of Oneonta, Hartwick’s Grain Innovation Center will provide convenient, affordable, and reliable testing and technical support for growers, millers, and bakers. Located in downtown Oneonta, it will house a research bakery, a lab, and space to host workshops and other educational events. As with the CCFB, a priority of the Grain Innovation Center will be to provide Hartwick students with research and other experiential learning opportunities. A nationwide search is currently underway for the GIC inaugural director.
For more information on Hartwick’s Center for Craft Food & Beverage, visit http://www.hartwick.edu/craftfoodandbeverage.